Rep. Tim Ryan makes it formal: He's gone from 'anti-abortion' to 'pro-choice'

[alp227]

Source: cleveland.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Niles-area Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan ran for Congress on an anti-abortion platform in 2002 but gradually lost support from groups that oppose the controversial procedure as his views increasingly diverged from theirs.

Last night - in a gesture that some observers believe might preface a run for higher office - Ryan made official his split with the anti-abortion movement by publishing a column in the Akron Beacon Journal titled "Why I changed my thinking on abortion."

It explained that Ryan considered himself to be "pro-life" after being raised Catholic, but 14 years in political office gave him "a deeper understanding of the complexities and emotions that accompany the difficult decision that women and families make" when deciding whether to end a pregnancy.

"While there are people of good conscience on both sides of this argument, one thing has become abundantly clear to me: the heavy hand of government must not make this decision for women and families," Ryan said in his column.

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/01/rep_tim_ryan_makes_it_formal_h.html

[Dont call me Shirley]

1. Ryan has come to his senses....

Now, only if Paul Ryan would come to his senses.

[riversedge]

2. Paul Ryan will never cross over. Never.

[Dont call me Shirley]

3. He could get struck by lightening. We can all have hope.

[freshwest]

8. Yes, let him 'cross over' and see who's in charge there. Hint: It ain't the Koch brothers!

Unless he goes to the other place...

my terrible self!

Disclaimer: Not Catholic, so IDK what they think about the Afterlife. My thoughts about that is I'll wait until then to think about it. And as the saying goes:

'If in having died, I find myself unsatisfied with the other side, I may come back (to complain).'

If there's an internet connection...

[BlancheSplanchnik]

12. :D

LoLoL!



The Koch bros provide philosophical proof of the existence of Hell. Because there HAS to be someplace they belong.

Or, they could just rot. #GetLostWeWontMissYouTheSoonerTheBetter

[calimary]

10. Well, we finally saw his cutesy young Congressional hotshot "twin" shoved out the door.

eric cantor never thought it'd happen to him, either. Nor did I. Utterly delicious that he's no longer there. Even though we didn't snatch away his seat, it's still nice that he's so very OUTTA there!

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

24. God forbid! Did you see the movie "Phenomenon"?

John Travolta became super-intelligent and developed clairvoyance and telekinesis.

If Walker attains those powers, it would mean the demise of us all.

Unless of course his super-intelligence turns him into a far-left progressive.

[Dont call me Shirley]

25. That was a good movie. That's kinda what I was thinking. Or like Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus

[RancidCrabtree]

14. Paul Ryan has

no senses to come to

[forest444]

4. The best way to be anti-abortion...

has always been to be pro-choice! Why?

Because lawmakers and voters who are pro-choice are also, by necessity, pro-contraception - which is and has always been the only effective and realistic way to reduce the number of abortions. As everyone here knows, all that these medieval, moralistic restrictions on either have ever accomplished is the emergence of an invisible mountain of sub-rosa abortions (and all the hideous gynecological illnesses and injuries that usually follow).

It's hard to believe that in the U.S., in 2015, we still have to explain this to people, isn't it?

[BrotherIvan]

11. +1

[BlancheSplanchnik]

13. +2. Trillion. n/t

[Small Accumulates]

15. +1 and wishing I could endorse a thousand times

a clear voice of reason in the forest

[forest444]

18. Wow. Thank you!

It is what it is, unfortunately.

[Cha]

5. Good for Tim Ryan.. thanks alp

[KamaAina]

6. This is the guy who has Jim Traficant's old seat

Gratuitous rug picture:

[niyad]

17. you should have WARNED us!!

[ananda]

7. Good. Even my Catholic pro-life mother..

.. always said that morality should never be legislated.

And I always say that government officials should
NEVER practice medicine.

[meow2u3]

9. Not everybody shares our moral values, so legislating them amounts to dictating to people

Legislating morality, by definition, means imposing your own morals not only on those who do share them, but also--and especially on people who don't subscribe to your idea of morality.

[Elmergantry]

22. So laws against theft have nothing to do wirth the fact its morally wrong?

Seems to me many of our laws are based on some sort of moral judgement.

[davidpdx]

23. I wish I could get my mom to see things the same way

Unfortunately she is pro-life and that bothers me, but there is nothing I can do about it.

[shireen]

16. We should not use the term "pro-life"

Everyone is pro-life ... we all want a good quality of life for each other.

Abortion opponents should be referred to as "anti-choice." That has quite a sting to it.

Does anyone know the number of pro-choice Republicans in the House and Senate?

[niyad]

19. I prefer "woman-hating pro-forced birthers"

[Judi Lynn]

20. That's good! Thanks. n/t

[UnseenUndergrad]

21. sigh...

And then they'll call you anti-life and more screaming will happen and both sides will slap themselves on the back and cackle in self-satisfied glee.

All the while, we have a progressive movment where reproductive autonomy has become (in many eyes on both sides) a clever and pretty lie to mask an atrocious number of feticides of varying justifiability, themselves a symptom of a society in thrall to Big Everything, Pro-elite republican corporatists playing conservative abortion-opponents for chumps, progressive abortion-skeptics (what few there are) tired of the whackos they have to share a frathouse with, and myself wondering if the lunatics on the right are tapping into something that the national Dems have seemed to have forgotten: the idea that "voting against your own best interests" has more than an economic dimension.

Alright, that's enough venting from me, but somethimes I think that (some) pro-choicers are their own worst enemy, much like many "Pro-Life" (tm) professional activists and politicos.

(HEY, we can just add a trademark symbol at the end! They can't complain as much and we can fit in commentary of various stripes!)

--(gulps as I press post)